Westdale Secondary School - Le Raconteur Yearbook (Hamilton, Ontario Canada)

Page 31 text:

Listening to Music By Wilfrid Proctor ln these days, thanks to the radio-and, in a smaller degree, to mechanized reproduction-line music, expensively produced, may be easily and cheaply obtained. This no doubt would seem to the majority of us excellent, yet it is not without its drawbacks and may quite easily have the bad effect of dulling out sensitiveness to musical stimuli. If we are content to employ music as a pleasant background for our reading, conversation or dozing, we need only to switch on our loud speakers and continue our various occupations. But listening to music is an active process which demands our full attention, and unless we concentrate on what we hear, it will, using the old expression, merely come in one ear and out the other, leaving no sediment of meaning or sensation behind it. Music to-day is so plentiful that we are tempted to regard it too cheaply. Even the few of us who attend good concerts regularly can supplement our experience by means of radio or gramophone. Music is almost literally Hin the air, but it is no easier to extract full enjoyment from it than it was before reproducing instruments were invented. It may be argued perhaps that once the habit of listening to soothing music is acquired it is possible to relax vigilance and divide attention, .Xctually the more habitual listening to music becomes, the more dillicult it is to attempt anything else at the same time. The distinction between hearing and listening may be illustrated by means of a simple analogy. Listening to our mother tongue is hab- itual, in a sense that we do not need to make any conscious effort in order to understand what is said to us. That is the effort lfor it is an effort, as first formers plainly see, when beginning another lan- guagel which has become so natural as to be negli- gible. Howeyer, in music we cannot afford to allow our attention to lapse. The whole point that l have been tryinff to make K . S clear may be easily demonstrated by one attempt- ing to read a newspaper and listen to a broadcast speech at the same time. lt may not be, of course, utterly impossible, but we realize at once that it demands a special kind of mental application. The average person will find that either the speech or the newspaper will be sufficient to keep his mind comfortably engaged, and in the end he will either listen to the broadcast or read the paper. Music, which, after all, is a form of language, equally de- mands respectful attention if it is to be enjoyed or be something more than a pleasant noise. To derive any benefit from it whatsoever we must not only hear music but listen to it. ORCHESTRA BACK ROW-W. Royce, W. Brown, M. Swlck, D. Oates, K. Burke, R. Cartmell, M. Cochrane, K. Lemmond, E. Wright. THIRD ROW-Mr. I. W. Lomas, L. Griffith, W. Lumsden. R. Thompson, W. Mummery, J. Feeney, R. Groom, A. Chilman, R. Cattell, V. Brldgewood, J. Young, A. Ward, W. Gilliland, R. Gardlner, R. McPhle. SECOND ROW-A. MacFarlane, L. Smlth, l. Kellar, M. Cattell, B. Lalng, K, Mitchell, A. Bertram, D. Mitchell, M. Walker, J. Maglll. FRONT ROW-V. Roberts, B. Harrlson, M. Spence, J. Forbes, E. Morehead, L. Llnkert, S. Turner, I. Parkhouse, F. Davls, I. Goldberg. '31

Page 30 text:

MUSIC Modern Music By Irwin Goldberg The younger generation is hailing swing music as something typical and expressive of this day and age. Old-timers recognize it as a modified expres- sion of the post-war jazz. The current swing songs are tricky. The rhythms consist of a set of blended melodies, com- pletely unlike the more sedate and lilting waltzes of another era. The words are usually inane, but their departures from the accepted are compara- tively understandable. Every day our makers of music are trying to find better and more entertaining ways of presenting their material. The straight singer or instrumental- ist is no longer news. There must be some special angle of showmanship, some individuality, some- thing that sets a performance apart from the con- ventional and traditional, before the elusive thing known as the public will sit up and take notice. lYhere some orchestras seem to have been success- ful in satisfying the musical appetite of the country, others fail to receive recognition and remain obscure and unknown. To play what is written in the average copy of a popular song is just to begin to play. The only thing which brings the orchestra into the limelight is when they are different and they have to re-cast and ornament the music before them. Unce they learn how to build up a piece of music that way then they being to have style. The leader of an orchestra has much to do with the success of his band, for upon the orchestra is reflected his character. Scattered throughout the country are thousands of orchestras, and all have set for their mark the top. llow many of these actually do reach the top? The public demands something different, and that is what the orchestra leaders have to contend with. .Xmong the handful of acknowledged leaders of orchestras is Fat's lYaller, who has risen from ob- scurity to his present fame by his inimitable ren- ditions. liis modern conception of popular music, combined with an ear for classics, has made him Victor's greatest record seller tB.C.-before crea- tion of Music Goes 'Round 'n' 'Round j. 30 Eddy Duchin created a new epoch in the history of popular music when he brought his wide technical knowledge of music to the rough and vital energy of jazz. :Xt the present time no piano style is better known than Eddie Duchin's. Hundreds of thousands of radio listeners know without being told that it is Eddie Duchin playing, for none can help but recognize his intricate and inspired musical twist which makes his style so effective. Duke Ellington became famous by his brilliant playing, featuring unique and daring cross-rhythms combined with strange and broken tempos. His selections give one the feeling of the very spirit of physical Africa moving in stirring rhythm. He has, better than any other orchestra leader, the ability to express himself musically. Ray Noble has created a new vogue in American music. His orchestra is a perfect example of how a leader characterizes his band. On account of the musicians' union he could not bring from England his own band, but in spite of this, he came over to America, assembled an orchestra, and by his spec- tacular arrangements of dance tunes forged to the top of orchestral distinction. .lack Hylton, another English invader of America, who seems to have been more fortunate than Ray Noble, as he was permitted to bring most of his London troupe with him, is a sort of British Fred XYaring, and emphasizes stage effects and novelty numbers. His version of the tune entitled Dick Turpin's Ride to York is an English counterpart of XK'aring's Annie Doesn't Live Here Any More. Fred XVaring has risen from nowhere to a place among the prominent array of radio talent. XYaring's Pennsylvanians, founded in Pennsylvania State College, began their career as a dance band with a few private dance engagements in their home section, to rise rapidly by endurance, practice and self-sacrifice to their present position, earning last year close to a million dollars. Guy Lombardo, voted by the radio editors throughout Canada and the U.S.A. as having Amer- ica's best dance band for 1935-6, has an orchestra that is made up of men who have played together as musicians for years. Beginning what seemed a small career in London, Ont., they rose to a position among the great popular musicians of the era.

Page 32 text:

LE BACIJNTEUII Music By Irwin Goldberg The Orchestra had a very full and interesting year and was kept busy practising for its various engagements. lt played a very entertaining pro- gram at the Royal Connaught llotel for the anni- versary of the .-Xd Club, besides playing for the Commencement, and Triune programs, the Tech- nical Exhibition, and several church programs. .Xn excellent annual concert was presented by the 1 'rchestra, and those attending enjoyed immensely the new selections playedg professional artists assisted. For the dances and the choruses of the School l'lay. the tf'rchestra changed from classics to popu- lar selections, featuring such tunes as: The Con- tirentalf' Tea for Two and Fare Thee Hell, .Xnnabclle. The scores of these pieces were trans- posed and written for the Orchestra by Mr. Lomas, who is to be congratulated on his clever arrange- ments. The Nature of Musie By Vernon Bridgewood Cf all the line arts music is, perhaps, the most wonderful, the most uplifting, the most com- plete. It explores the heights and depths of human passion and human experience, and transports the soul through the entire gamut of the emotions. Music, the gifted child of the imagination, is also the hand-maiden of exact science. It differs greatly from architecture. sculpture, and painting. Guided by the architect's plans, men hew massive rocks of granite, and lo! the mighty cathedral rises into the air: the sculptor overlays it with lacework of stone. and the painter decorates it with holy pic- tures to tell the saintly story to those who cannot read it for themselves. And century after cen- tury, the cathedral stands, and man may admire its graceful proportions and worship within its portals. Music, however, is not formed of granite blocks. but of just a succession of sounds which are so mod- ulated that they please the ear. The composer writes it: the musicians play it-and when they pause. all that remains is a beautiful memory, instead of a visible monmnent. So, compared to the other arts, music is the most ethereal. Yet it has one advantage over the great cathe- dral, for the latter can never change its site, while music may be heard at the same time in different parts of the world. 32 Not only this, but music is a most wonderful language, for it can express more emotion and intensity of feeling than any other language that has ever been spoken. The use of music as a serious factor in education is bound up with the whole question of art in the national life. Music is being accepted in an increas- ing number of high schools and universities as a credit or optional subject in courses leading to graduation. lts educational and cultural value in training the mind and developing the artistic sense is becoming universally recognized. All this marks a decided change in attitude from that which pre- vailed a very few years ago, when music was con- sidered merely a pleasing accomplishment. Short Waves By W. Smith The use of short waves used in radios in the home has been a lifesaver to both the listening public and the radio industry. ln the early days of radio, the chief object of most listeners was to try and receive stations from the greatest distances away. This lust for long dis- tance reception died out when the broadcasting stations started putting programs over the air that were really entertaining. This form of entertain- ment built up a very large listening audience, and then the depression hit the radio industry. Some- thing had to be done to keep up the sale of radio receivers and satisfy the listeners. Short waves was the answer. The crave for a new form of entertainment was satisfied. Also was the old eagerness for distance. Short wave stations in foreign countries were being received regularly and appreciated by people whose sets were equipped to receive these mysterious wave - lengths. Nowadays there are very few receivers built that do not cover the short wave- lengths. England and Germany are the outstanding for- eign countries whose programs are really excellent and are received consistently. Almost every coun- try of any size now has a short-wave broadcasting station being received throughout the world. Other stations received are amateurs, police and aircraft, but these transmissions are not intended for the listening public. VVhen tired of domestic programs, the radio listeners can now rely upon short waves to bring them a program that is different.